Defense Leads Spiders to Win Over Lafayette

Saturday, December 30

Robins Center

4:00 PM

University of Richmond

Lafayette

12/30/2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Mooney, Bigelow Postgame Instant Highlights

RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond held Lafayette to 25 percent shooting from the field and allowed its third-fewest points in 19 seasons under Chris Mooney in a 59-38 win over the Leopards Saturday at Robins Center. With the win, Richmond finished its non-conference schedule at 8-5 and improved to 4-0 all-time vs Lafayette.

"I'm certainly proud of our defense today. I thought the entire game we made it difficult for them to score and rebounded defensively well and created some turnovers, so some positives there," said Mooney after the game. "We kept defending and ended up with — not a beautiful [one] — but a win."

The Spiders were nearly flawless in the first half, outscoring the Leopards 44-17 while shooting 8-18 from three-point range and grabbing 24 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end. Richmond took its first double-digit lead midway through the opening period when a three-pointer by Tyler Harris made the score 20-9. The Spiders outscored Lafayette 21-4 over the final seven minutes of the opening period, a run that was capped when Jordan King threw an inbounds pass three-quarters of the court to find Dji Bailey for a layup in the paint just before the halftime buzzer.

With centers Neal Quinn (illness), Mike Walz (groin) and Ryan Soulis (foot) sidelined for much of the second half, the Spiders never found the same offensive rhythm but continued to dominate on the defensive end. The 38 points allowed by the Spiders matched their third-fewest during the Chris Mooney era, tying the 38 points UR allowed in a 33-point win vs UMass as the 2023 A-10 Championship. The only games Richmond has surrendered fewer points under Mooney are a 79-37 win vs the Citadel on Nov. 12, 2010 and a 62-36 victory vs Saint Louis on Jan. 30, 2010.

Richmond finished with 45 rebounds, its second most in a game in the last eight seasons (50 at Duquesne on March 6, 2020). "Rebounding has been an emphasis for our whole team — finishing possessions," said Isaiah Bigelow. "Early in the game at least, we were doing a good job of limiting them to one shot."

Bigelow led the Spiders with 14 points and 10 rebounds to secure his second straight double and the fourth of his career.

"He is a matchup problem," said Mooney. "His ability to score, to shoot from three-point range and to handle the ball and do the things that we ask our forwards to do is very positive for someone who rebounds so well and can play physically."

"I've made it an emphasis to shoot better shots — to shoot shots that I work on — more consistently rather than tougher and more contested shots," said Bigelow, who is now averaging 11.9 points this season, up from 7.9 last year. "I think I needed to up my game as far as being more of a threat offensively."

Bailey and Mikkel Tyne each added 10 points each, while Harris and Jason Roche came off the bench to score six points apiece.

Richmond is now 7-0 at home this season, marking just the fifth time in Robins Center history UR has won its first seven home games of a season (also 1985, 2009, 2012, and 2019).

At 8-5, Richmond will enter conference play at least three games over .500 for the fourth time in the last five years. UR will open it's Atlantic 10 season next Saturday vs St. Bonaventure at the Robins Center. Tip-off time is scheduled for 4 PM on Monumental Sports Network and ESPN Plus.

"I know we can get much better offensively. I feel like we're a pretty good defensive team right now and that will be tested even more in the conference," said Mooney.